The Mermaid

These that live in cities are like sheep penned in a fold,
But little do they know what we poor mariners do behold;
A year ago I took a trip across the Northern Sea,
On board the Pretty Peggy from Archangel to Dundee.

But one delightful summer's night as I stood at the wheel,
I heard a woman's voice that seemed to sing below the keel;
First it sung below the keel six fathoms in the tide,
And then it sounded on the port and then the starboard side.

The wind being light, southeast-by-south, the sea was calm below,
The northern sky so bright as day and in a rosy glow;
And as I stood abaft of the wheel like someone at a door,
Up sprang a mermaid dripping wet, jumped from the sea on board.

Her hair being of the golden as it hid her lovely neck,
And hung down in a cloak behind until it swept the deck;
With a voice so sweet and musical she then addressed me,
Saying, "Come my jolly mariner and live beneath the sea.

"I will take you to my parent's cave where you may live at ease,
And feed you on the best of fish that swims about the sea."
"Oh, no, my handsome fair one, too happy I would be,
If I could go along with you and live beneath the sea.

"For you know, my dear, I must have air, I cannot breathe the brine,
Unless you come along with me you never can be mine;
I'll take you in a caravan and ride this country road,
And not one soul will see my pet until they'll pay a pound.

"With one pound notes and sovereigns, too, we soon shall have enough,
And every day we'll eat soft tack and live on steak and duff."
And then I made a reach at her and bade her to embrace,
But she rose up her tiny hand and slapped me in the face.

A harder clout I never got, it made my senses reel,
"Take that!" an angry voice exclaimed, "for sleeping at the wheel."
I looked around with watery eyes, no mermaid could I see,
But just abaft of the binnacle the old captain glowered at me.

####.... Author unknown. Not related to Child ballad #289 ....####

Note: Binnacle - a pedestal with compass for use by a ship's helmsman.